Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 573: Ye Weiguo Was Murdered

Ye Weiguo was dead. He was chopped inhalf, and his blood had splashed everywhere. His intestines littered the bed, dripping blood to the ground.

It must havebeen doneby Guan Yu. Except for him, no one couldcommit such a horriblecrime. I guessed Ye Weiguowas able tolet out a screambecause his bulletproof vest had resisted the blade for a while. Otherwise, hewouldn’thave hada chance to scream.

I didn’t know why Guan Yu wanted to kill Ye Weiguo. Did Ye Weiguo hide something from me?

Ye Weiguo’s subordinates were shivering in fright when they saw the scene. I knewthings weren’tas simple asthat. I grabbed the collar of one of themand yelled, “What happened?”

“J-Just recently, while our leader was laughing, a shadow holding a big blade appeared. Our leader screamed painfully. When we got ourselves together, he was…”

The man’s voice was intermittent, butI could understand his words. Ifhe wasprotecting Ye Weiguo, hehad tobe his close subordinate. He mustknow something. I asked the others to leave theroom. Then, Iasked him to tell me allthathe knew.

“Why did Ye Weiguo laugh before he died?”The manglanced at mebut didn’t say anything. “Ye Weiguoisdead. Ifthiscontinues, we’ll all die. Do you understand this?”

Feeling hopeless, I had to call the others who had witnessed the murder to come back to the room. I rolled my eyes at them and said that they would follow in his footsteps if they didn’t talk. I wasn’t bluffing.Since Ye Weiguo was dead,theyhad to bear the punishment too.

They had accompanied their leader for quite a long time. All of them had mastered many skills, so they knew what was best for them. After a while, they started to talk in fright. “What should we do now?”

“Have you called the police?” I asked worriedly. If Ye Weiguo’s deathbecameknown, the people in this room, including me, would be the target of the critiques. Fortunately, they shook their heads.

I exhaled. “For the time being, try to conceal this news. Moreover, be honest and tell me what Ye Weiguodidbefore hewas killed.”

“Before our leader was murdered,hegaveus an order. He asked us to burn the Emperor Quan temple in Shiwu Lipu. Then, to kill you too!” One of Ye Weiguo’s subordinates couldn’t endure the pressure. He told me the truth. I was enraged after listening to him.

If Ye Weiguo wanted to demolish the Guan Yu Temple in Shiwu Lipu, that place would havearelation with Guan Yu’s spirit. Moreover, it alsoprovedthat the spirit had killed people under his influence.

But I didn’t know why he wanted to kill me. I didn’t know any weaknesses of his.

“Do you know anything else?” I asked.

“Leader Yediscreetly contacted foreign forces many times. I guessed it’s the cause of the dispute between him and Xiao Quan.”

“You know about their dispute. That’s why he wanted to kill you too!” Since one of them had started it, as soon as I asked, the othersbegan tellingme what they knew.

I got it now. Ye Weiguo had tried all means to destroy Xiao Quan, but it wasn’tfor this country. It was because Xiao Quan had stood in his path to great wealth. In other words, he wanted to eliminate Xiao Quan and replace him to earn more money from the foreign forces!

If he killedme, he would feel somewhat safer. I looked atYe Weiguo’sdeadbody, and my stomachchurnedin disgust. He had perfectlydisguised himselfas a righteous person. If his subordinates didn’t tell me the truth, I would have never believed that he was a bad guy.

I thoughtthenasked Ye Weiguo’s team to submit the crimeevidenceof Xiao Quan and his people to the government. Although it couldn’t take Xiao Quan down right now, he would be damaged.

Then, I left the hospital and took a taxi to go to the temple in Shiwu Lipu. On the way there, I asked the driver about the place.

“It’s a small town in the western suburbs. It’s famous for the well-preserved ancient houses.The general architecture thereis from the Qing dynasty.This place has better views than Phoenix Ancient TownandPingyao Ancient Town. Unfortunately, it’s close to the Forbidden City.Not many people know about that place, as most of the tourists are attracted by the Forbidden City. Recently,the movie and television industries have beenthriving. There are more and more film crews coming to filmin the ancient town.People are gradually getting to know about Shiwu Lipu.”

As soon as I gotout of the car,I was attracted by the style of the buildings in the town. The neatly arranged courtyards lookedmajestic. Rows of parasol trees were planted along the small paths. The chimneys on the roof were made of blue clay brick.All of them were full of charm.

If Iwasn’t in a hurryto find the Guan Yu Temple, I would have liked to stay here for a few days. Since it was late at night, there weren’t many people walking on the streets. However, the roads were well-lit with many street lamps. I guessed they werefor touristslike me.

I hadwalkedfor a short time when I reached the center of the town. There was a big display board that read, “Welcome to Shiwu Lipu for sightseeing.”

I wasworried that I couldn’t find the Guan Yu Temple, so this advertising board could be helpful.However, it turned out the billboard didn’t mention anything about the Guan Yu Temple.

I was puzzled.Doesthis place have a Guan Yu Temple?

Who was Guan Yu? He was the Saint of War of China!Fromancient times to themodern-day, he was the paradigm of loyalty and righteousness. The stone he touched or the place where he died would become a monument, let alone his temple!

To the people in ShiwuLipu, tourism wasone of their concerns.Why did they give up this opportunity? I thought therecouldbe a discrepancy here. I studied the billboard again to see if I could catch any words about loyalty and righteousness.

Still, I got nothing. But I believed that the last order Ye Weiguo had given wasn’t fake. Moreover, his subordinates couldn’t get away from this. They had no reason to trick me.

So, wherewasthe problem?

I reluctantly left the big board and was about toaskthe locals for information.But whenI turned around, I foundastrange feature.

The entire ShiwuLipuTown was shaped like an egg, which was divided into many small blocks with the names of the scenic spots. Even the residential areasandconveniencestores were marked. However, I spotted a blank space that had no mark at all.

In a scenic area like this, every square inch of land wasworth somegold.Such a vast space couldn’t exist. Evenif there was astructure or a river, it should have a name.

If I were hereunder normal circumstances,Iwouldn't care about it. But now, I was somewhat certain that it was where theGuan Yu Temple was situated!

I found my current location on the map and memorized the directions of that empty lot. With my intuition, I found my way there.

The town wasn’t big. After I had walked for arounda dozen minutes,the road was blocked.Not only in front of me, but all the other directions were blocked from where I was standing. In other words, the unmarked area on the map over there was encircled.

I touched the iron fence and found a thick layer of rust. At some spots, the rust churned up.It seemed the iron fencehad beenhere for years. I walked around the place anddidn’t see anentrance. I became bewildered and skeptical.

If Guan Yu Temple was inside, how could Ye Weiguo have entered this place? Also,if itwasn’ta temple, what was this place?

To prevent intruders, this iron fence was around three meters high. Barbed wire was deliberately installedaroundit. Fortunately, I knew how to invite spirits to carry me. I immediately asked a spirit to jump over the fence andtake methere.

However, as soon as we landed, the wild ghost turned into a wisp of smoke and fled before I could offer my blood to it…

Looking at the ghost leaving in fright, I suddenly recognized that Icouldbe in great trouble. However, as I was here, I had to clench my jaw and continueforward.

The place inside the fence wasn’t different from the places outside. There were ancient buildings, and some of thetrees looked so old and weathered. However, there was no street light here.I turned on the flashlight and moved forward. Eventually, I stood in front of a relatively imposing temple.

The temple had a black plaque, but the words on it were wiped out after yearsofdifferent kinds of weather.

I didn’t want to linger at the door. I cautiouslysteppedin. From the entrance, I saw the altar,which had a statue. Iwentnearer and took in a deep breath. It was Guan Yu!